I have a passion for swimming and I am so fortunate to get the opportunity to represent the U.S. in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. I want to share with you my journey to the games. I will be sharing my memories from the U.S. Olympic Trials and my experiences from training camp in Palo Alto, travels and training in Singapore and my experience at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Friday, August 29, 2008

For your viewing pleasure... cheaper than a night at the movies

Hi again... this is Ashley. I thought you all would enjoy a couple of video clips from our trip. We were given a Flip Video. It is a tiny video camera, the size of a phone, we were able to take it everywhere with us. I got a few great clips of us exploring Beijing after Mark checked out of the Olympic Athlete Village.

This is our new friend Cindy. She isn't shy and manages to give Mark a great plug. I am thinking about hiring her as his publicist! Just Kidding!

This is Andy, the suit maker. And, yes, Mark did actually get the 2 suits and 4 shirts he ordered from the Silk Market. Andy came to our hotel room at midnight to do a fitting and the suits and shirts were completed and delivered to us the next morning at 8am. Andy was wearing the same outfit that morning that he was wearing the night before during the fitting. Mark claims that they are the best fitting suits and shirts he as ever owned!

The Great wall was AWESOME! All Mark could think of was how hard a dry land workout would be on top of the great wall... PK, Mark even claimed that he thinks he could beat Joe G in a race to the top!

Stay tuned... one day Mark will figure out how to post his pictures. He took almost 1,000 pictures- I can't wait for you all to see them!

Photographers anxiously awaited the arrival of the USA Swim team in Beijing

Mark on the Airplane from Singapore to Beijing

Mark was so lucky to have plenty of space to stretch out and sleep on the flight from Singapore to Beijing.

Me in front of the driving range at the Country Club we've been training at

Training facility in Singapore

The training facility in Singapore is at a country club. There is a driving range in view of the facility, which I like. This morning when I was riding to practice it was still dark out, but because there are lights over the course, people were playing golf still-it was 6:45am!